Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Rollins Is Turning It On

Jimmy Rollins had quite an afternoon yesterday at Wrigley Field.

He could be headed for quite a payday, too.

Rollins went 3-for-5 with two homers and three RBIs yesterday. He homered from both sides of the plate for the second time in his career. His 1.169 OPS in 11 games since July 4 is fourth in baseball behind Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dan Uggla. He ranks ninth among big-league shortstops with a .753 OPS this season.

That’s the type of guy you might want on your team, huh?

Rollins’ impending free agency will be interesting to watch. The Phillies have no alternatives in their system to replace them. Looking at his overall OPS compared to other shortstops, there seem to be few alternatives in the big leagues. Charlie Manuel and Rollins were asked yesterday if his upcoming free agency is providing him a little extra motivation for a big season.

“Yeah, definitely,” Manuel said. “But at the same time I also think that he sees the type of team we have and the pitching and he feels very much a part of it and he wants to see us win.”

“If you want to look at it that way then it can be,” Rollins said. “But I don’t get motivated by this possibly being my last year, free agent year, contract year, whatever you want to call it. I play baseball the same way every single day. The numbers are going to be what they are. You are who you are. They know that.”

So how much to pay him? It’s hard to say, but I can’t imagine Rollins accepting anything less than a three-year contract. But one thing is clear: if Rollins keeps hitting like this, the price is going up.

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13 Comments

Three years for JRoll would be just right. Unfortunately, I think some crazy GM will overreach and offer him more. The Phillies should offer him three years at $12 million per, with an option year including a $3 million buyout. Essentially, a three year $39 million deal. That’s a solid offer. Take it or leave it. It would probably cost them Madson, but he is going to be tough to sign anyway, considering that Boras is his agent.

Maybe I’m naive, but Jimmy is not about contracts, contract years, etc. Yes, he will want a good deal next year, as would anyone, and it may not be from the Phillies. But right now he’s playing for a division, a pennant, and a World Series ring. As nasty as this might sound, JImmy is not Jayson Werth.

I don’t think he is anything like Werth, but this WILL be his last shot to cash in. He should maximize it, and I wouldn’t blame him to do so. I think the Phillies will be very fair to him, but there are a lot of crazy GM’s out there who could make him a ridiculous offer.

Are you pissed that Werth took the money and ran? Get over it and stop disparaging Werth. Familiarize yourself with Werth’s performance while here. Sure he has his best year in 2010. But it is also true that that represented a trend which showed his offensive figures improved every year from 2007 through 2010, after he became the everyday right fielder. It is not like he suddenly went off the charts in 2010. I would have liked if he had stuck around but would had to have questioned his sanity in doing so believing that the Phillies did not even come close to offering what he got from the Nationals. By the way, I didn’t like either his Grizzly Adams appearance or his dingbat persona either.

Where did I say I was pissed, and when did I disparage Werth? Werth did the right thing, and I alwasy said so. The Phillies did also, by not being the team that overpaid for him.
The reason JRoll is not like Werth is that he has already made substantial money in MLB and Werth had yet to really get paid. It’s like the difference between Halladay and Lee. Halladay was amenable to a fair, below-market contract because he had already made a lot of money and just wanted to win. Lee needed to get paid, as Halladay made more money in 2010 than Lee had made in his whole career. Now, will JRoll be amenable to a fair 3-year contract from a winning team or will he jump at a ridiculous deal from, say, a team from the West Coast to maximize his earning power? He will probably have that option.

say what you want, but the eye test to me is the locals serving tall boys at a price of Werthy’s current Mendoza-flirting batting average. I am familiar with that happy hour special. What haterade killing stats are you referencing? I thought the best part of Werth (besides that killer pick off move to first behind an aggressive runner on a hard single) was his beard. Dingbat persona? More like cocky, asshole, ya-so-what-if-my-mom-was-an-Olympian-and-my male-gene-pool-stacked-with-big-leaguers persona; with you on that.

phan52, I did say you are pissed or that you disparaged Werth. I am not responding to you. I am responding to Steve Kusheloff. Notice our responses are aligned and although mine appears after yours, it is not indented as we both appear under Steve Kusheloff. You need to come in on Sundays and familiarize yourself with the format.

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